Chief justice seeks 3.5 percent raise for KY court workers, warns of job cuts
Kentucky Supreme Court Chief Justice John D. Minton Jr. asked state lawmakers Tuesday to give a 3.5 percent pay raise in each of the next two years to the nearly 4,000 court employees in the state.
Minton also said the amount of money the Beshear Administration designated for the judicial branch of state government for the next two years was $63.8 million less than what was requested. If that stands, said Minton, the judicial branch would have to cut 387 job, or about 11.4 percent of its non-elected workforce.
Another 137 deputy clerk jobs are threatened with loss of money to the judicial branch from issuing drivers’ license fees, he said.
Minton, who was elected to the state’s highest court in 2006 and was elected chief justice by his fellow justices to a third four-year term in 2016, outlined his priorities for the judicial branch’s two-year budget to members of the House Budget Review Subcommittee on Justice, Public Safety and Judiciary.
The panel is to provide input into the House’s version of the state budget. The House is expected to present its budget plan in early March.
In addition to the 1 percent annual salary increase for all court employees that Gov. Andy Beshear has proposed, Minton is seeking a 2.5 percent increase each year for them. He said that would mean a 3.5 annual pay raise for all court employees.
Minton told the subcommittee that the judicial branch has 406 elected justices, judges and circuit court clerks and nearly 3,400 non-elected court employees who handle about 870,000 legal cases each year.
Though the judicial branch represents only 3 percent of the state’s total budget, it accounts for 10 percent of the state’s workforce, he said.
He said salaries for the court system’s non-elected employees have traditionally trailed similar jobs in the executive branch by about $3,000 to $7,000.
“We need to increase compensation to stay competitive in the job market,” said Minton, who also asked to up the starting salary for circuit court staff attorneys from $34,750 to $39,790.
The salaries of elected circuit court clerks, said Minton, lag behind their counterparts in county government, he said.
The pay for circuit clerks and county clerks is based on a county’s population, with circuit courts falling short of county clerks by $7,000 to $13,600, the chief justice said.
And judges in Kentucky rank below all states in pay, he said, adding that Kentucky judges earn about 25 percent less than the national average.
Minton’s compensation plan would cost $7.4 million in fiscal year 2021 and $14.9 million in fiscal year 2022.
Minton said the Beshear Administration’s allocation for the judicial branch was $390.6 million in the first year of the two-year budget and $396.2 million in the second year.
“If the enacted budget incorporates the governor’s set-aside number, the judicial branch would have to cut 387 positions, which is 11.4 percent of our non-elected workforce,” said Minton.
“I’m sure you can understand how damaging that would be to the commonwealth and the court system.”
Rep. Jason Petrie, R-Elkton, who is chair of the House Judiciary Committee, said the set-aside amount was “a heavy hit” to the judicial branch budget.
“If you remove that much money from the operations budget and that many people, you might as well throw criminal justice and the rest of it out the window,” he said.
Minton also told lawmakers that the judicial budget will lose $5.4 million a year from no longer handling drivers’ license fees.
He noted that the court system and the state Transportation Cabinet agreed last year following the unsuccessful initial rollout of the Real ID licenses required for federal security to put all drivers’ licenses functions in the Transportation Cabinet.
With the loss of that money, Minton said, it will be difficult to maintain the 137 deputy clerk positions that are currently funded through that revenue, he said.
Minton noted that most of those clerks handle court business in addition to issuing drivers’ licenses.
Minton also proposed to build three new judicial centers: $11.86 million in Butler County, $17.4 million in Clinton County, and $11.8 million in Owsley County; and renovations and additions in Crittenden County for $11.9 million and Jessamine County for $28.4 million.
This story was originally published February 11, 2020 at 4:14 PM.
